


when everybody falls asleep (that’s when dreams come alive)

by mairieux



Category: VIXX
Genre: Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Neighbours AU, Summers, also kinda - Freeform, hongbin is straight unfortunately, ive come to realise i hate tagging, jaehwan is a foreigner, language barriers, not this again - Freeform, sanghyuk is a... farmer. kinda, yes - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-29 02:49:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17799722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mairieux/pseuds/mairieux
Summary: Sanghyuk thought that nothing can ever be worse than a summer's sun. That is, until he met an obnoxiously blue and pink gradient tinted sunglasses that blinded him more than he can imagine. The owner's smile, however, maybe they have the winner here.Perhaps this year's summer will be better.





	when everybody falls asleep (that’s when dreams come alive)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [starryhakyeon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starryhakyeon/gifts).



> for my girlfriend. a late valentines day gift for you hehe :-)
> 
> this fic is heavily based on formatting, so everything is intentional and most likely not just an inconsistent mistake. with that in mind, please note that every time the sentences are in italics, it means that they're speaking in english! i figured this would be a quicker method than to just continually mention that they are in fact speaking english or korean every time.
> 
> i hope you enjoy <3

Sanghyuk almost pricks himself on thorns when his new neighbour’s sunglasses blind him under the morning sun.

Yelping, he pulls his hand away, softly blowing on his reddening skin that could have been bleeding if he didn’t catch himself any faster.

Still, the sunglasses manage to continue blinding him even if he’s quite a yard away, glinting in its obnoxious blue-pink gradient under the summer sun. It doesn’t take much for him to conclude that he’s probably his neighbour’s foreign visitor, judging by the way Sanghyuk notices how he acts.

He doesn’t give another thought to it, and goes back to tending his grandmother’s roses, only now taking extra care not to touch any of the thorns again when the glint of the sunglasses slowly comes back in his vision.

In panic, Sanghyuk hurries clipping the thorns, in hopes that he gets to finish the chore before the foreigner approaches him any closer. He just needs to remove the ones near the top, remembering what his grandmother told him, and he almost pricks himself again until-

Okay, inhale first – Sanghyuk actually pricked himself this time, a bead of blood starting to slowly form on his forefinger – and then exhale – he wonders how long would it take if he runs back to their house now before this person strikes up small talk.

“ _Hi! I’m Jaehwan Lee, your new neighbour,_ ” Sanghyuk looks up at him in horror, and his legs almost tremble down the ground, “ _I’ll only be staying here for a while, but I hope we get along!_ ”

Inhale, exhale – he doesn’t need to lose his cool over a simple human interaction.

“ _Heh-hello_ ,” he can almost say he said it confidently if he didn’t stutter in the beginning, “ _nice to- uhm, meet you_.”

“ _It's nice to meet you too,_ ” Jaehwan finally takes his blinding sunglasses off, and Sanghyuk wonders right at that moment if he's keeping the sun from blinding him or if he's keeping everyone else from being blinded by his eyes. “ _Uh, hello?_ ”

Sanghyuk sees him holding a hand out, and in a rush, he gives him his hand with the bleeding finger. Jaehwan takes it anyway, flashing him a pretty, pretty smile before his eyes widen.

“ _Hey, you're bleeding! Are you okay?_ ” All these English words are swimming in Sanghyuk's ears and they might as well also start bleeding.

“ _This- Um, rose hurt hand,_ ” he ends up stuttering, quickly pulling back his hand, embarrassingly enough.

“ _Does it hurt? I think you need to disinfect it_ ,” the frown Jaehwan gives him worries him even more, because Sanghyuk doesn't understand half of what he said and because he sounded like he asked him something.

“ _I'm sorry!_ ” Sanghyuk gives up and gives him a bow, before turning on his heels and running off towards his grandparents’ house.

“ _Hey wait! Your finger! Make sure you disinfect it!”_

 

Too bad Sanghyuk's all in a flurry to get back home to save himself from further embarrassment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I'm telling you, I really thought the earth was going to swallow me whole!  ”

With a decided thud, his grandmother places down her basket of peaches on their wooden table, hand on her hip as she watches Sanghyuk do an average job of cleaning leeks.

“This is why I told you to stay in school and with your parents,” she starts to rattle off, “you wouldn't be struggling with English if you actually bothered to stay in Seoul.”

“That's not the point—”

“Let him breathe, Yewon-ah,” calmingly, his grandfather tries to defend him, but his grandmother just squints through her specs as she sees how sloppy they are at their simple task. She clucks her tongue, before sitting down in front of them and starts working on the washed peaches.

“That must’ve been Jaehwannie,” she mutters, carefully peeling the fuzzy skin, “about twenty-something years ago the Lees brought their older son to the US states, to their parents, since they couldn’t afford to raise a child back then.”

“But Hongbin-hyung?” Sanghyuk almost snaps the leek wrongly when he was trying to remove the darker leaves.

“Hongbinnie was born when the Lees were more well-off, so they didn’t bother sending him abroad,” she pauses right after, thinking, “now that you mention it, I wonder why their elder son only came home now.”

“Well, I guess that explains why he seemed like a foreigner.”

“You’d think his grandparents would teach him how to speak Korean, but I suppose they never bothered,” his grandfather seconds, nodding along as he finishes his words. “With a family like that, it does seem easy to forget your roots.

“That's why,” Sanghyuk's grandfather continues, pointing at him accusingly with a leek, “when you become successful one day, no matter who you become or marry, never forget that you're a Han.”

“Marriage… I'm too young.”

“You say you're too young, but we're also getting too old,” he hears his grandmother counter, eyes never leaving the pink fruit in her hands, “you need to learn how to live, to earn your own money — it's not forever we will be by your side.”

“Grandma—”

“Now, now, why don't we clean our produce in peace? I can't concentrate from all this yapping!”

She snickers, but doesn't say anything else, and Sanghyuk sighs internally. He was pretty sure English had nothing to do with that and he supposes his grandparents just know how to blow topics out of proportion.

Sometimes it's really not that different from living in Seoul after all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Oh— Hyung!”

 

It was a Tuesday afternoon when Sanghyuk found Lee Hongbin reading under the shade of a tree without knowing what the rest of the day will lead to.

“Sanghyuk, hey,” Hongbin smiles at him, dimples dipping down his cheeks as he sets his book aside.

“I've got peaches! Just freshly picked from our orchard,” the younger hands him one of the fuzzy fruits that Hongbin gladly takes, smile widening as he feels its softness.

“You know, grandma wasn't kidding when she said she'll grow stuff so well that you'll forget you ever hated them when you taste it.” Sanghyuk hears Hongbin say as he smells in the sweet scent of peaches. And without further hesitation, biting into it gladly. He chews on it for a moment, before breaking out into a grin.

“How is it?”

“Amazing, as always.”

Sanghyuk was about to just smile and leave him to his devices again but Hongbin continues, “have you met my brother?”

“Uh… Your brother?”

 

Yikes.

 

“Yeah, Jaehwan-hyung,” Hongbin tells him as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world, “he just arrived this morning, so you may have seen him?”

The younger pretends to think, biting his lip to save himself from embarrassment. “Don’t think so, hyung. Maybe he arrived right after I, uh, finished my chores.”

“That’s too bad,” Hongbin buys it anyway, somehow, and he was probably about to wish Sanghyuk a good day when Hongbin lights up again at someone behind Sanghyuk. “Hyung!”

“ _Hi,_ Binnie,” none other than Lee Jaehwan comes into Sanghyuk’s view, and in the glaring orange sun does his feet freeze cold, “ _and, oh- You’re the farmer I saw this morning!”_

Hongbin looks a little bewildered, but he holds his tongue for now as he watches their exchange.

“O-oh? Was that him…” Sanghyuk whispers, and it’s unfortunate that it cues Jaehwan to tilt his head confusedly.

“ _Sorry, my Korean isn’t good enough. Can you repeat it in English?_ ” Jaehwan says apologetically, holding a hand out again however in hopes of a much better introduction.

“What? Hyung, Sanghyuk isn't that great in—”

“ _Han Sanghyuk,"_ Sanghyuk cuts him off instead, now shaking his hand properly with a wavering smile, “ _English is not good,”_ and he's actually surprised with himself that he hasn't stuttered once, “ _nice to… Meet you?”_

 _“Jaehwan Lee, Hongbin’s older brother!”_ There must be a limit to how animatedly someone can talk, Sanghyuk was sure of it, but even by the weight of Jaehwan’s hand on his and the shrillness of his voice is enough to make his blood rush just as energetically.

“ _So_ , um, Jaehwan-hyung?” Sanghyuk awkwardly gestures to him, and it takes Jaehwan a second to realise what he meant. Is his Korean really that bad?

“ _That’s right! I’m_ hyung _!”_ God, if he didn’t know better he would’ve immediately assumed he’s a white man’s first time discovering Korean. Maybe he can forgive Jaehwan a little easier with how his cheeks easily plump up as he smiles at his own words.

Between them, Hongbin coughs out, drawing both of their attention, “ _anyway_ , _what brings you here,_ hyung?”

The smile on Jaehwan’s face twists to something to like a pout, his eyes lowering to the ground as his lips jut out somehow more.

“ _I was in my room, then I saw you’re having peaches_.”

“ _Peaches?”_ Hongbin looks at him strangely, before he finally remembers that Sanghyuk did give him a peach earlier.

Without thinking twice, Sanghyuk grabs another one of the pink fruits from the basket (he was supposed to give these to the Lee family, anyway) and hands them to Jaehwan, who looks as if he just offered him something worth more than just a fuzzy fruit.

“ _I love peaches_ ,” Jaehwan mumbles as he examines its texture with his hands, and only now does Sanghyuk realises how pretty his eyes are without his obnoxious sunglasses obstructing the view, _“they’re my favourite_.”

“ _You wouldn’t believe I used to hate peaches_ ,” his younger brother replies, opening his book again already as their interactions start to die down, “ _then I tasted the Hans’ own farm-grown peaches and became a changed man_.”

“ _Oh_ — _I just love fruits; peaches, mangoes, lychees_ — _all good for me.”_

And meanwhile, Sanghyuk just awkwardly stands there as his head spins again. He really should just leave the basket on the ground and quietly walk away.

“Hongbin-hyung,” he sighs inside the moment he realises he couldn’t hold his tongue anyway, “I’m gonna go now,” he tells him apologetically, or as much as he can try to look one, “grandma’s going to have me whacked if I don’t hurry back.” Slowly back away now, “I’ll uh, leave the basket here since it was meant for your whole family anyway.”

With one last short bow, he turns around and walks faster than he could hear Jaehwan asking Hongbin where he’s going.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sanghyuk immediately knew he was done for when he opens up one of the few textbooks he brought back to the countryside.

The ugly, plain blue textbook with a cheap photograph of a white woman smiling titled “SPEAK” sits fat on his desk late at night and he shivers under the warmth of his woolly sweater.

“You should still be collecting dust,” he mutters as he flips it open, his familiar handwriting littering some of the activities spread throughout the book.

He smiles, barely, when he sees doodles of his inside jokes with some of his high school friends scattered in the sides of some pages, but most of the time he’s grimacing to himself as he gets tongue-tied pronouncing English words again.

The thing is, he actually isn’t _that_ bad at English… Or at least, Sanghyuk thinks he deserves a little more credit. It’s just that when he’s about to speak he forgets all the words he knows and his grammar jumbles and— Okay, maybe Sanghyuk is just giving himself too much credit.

It doesn’t change the fact that he won the spelling bee (once) and that he’s got presentable marks in his report cards so…

Sighing, he rubs his thumbs along the side of his temples, before reciting a list of basic sentences until his tongue gets worn out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sanghyuk hasn’t had the slightest idea why he actually bothered to waste time practising English last night, as he knows he’ll definitely avoid Jaehwan next time he sees him again.

Dimly staring at their blueberries (just freshly harvested the other day, still needs love if they want to continue the quality produce), he carries on watering the plants, mind flying off as he tries to think of something less stressful.

 

“ _Hey, you missed a blueberry!”_

 

Of course.

Sanghyuk’s strained luck never fails and Lee Jaehwan’s right over the hedge again, hand reaching for a blueberry they apparently missed when harvesting. His fingers finally reach it, quickly popping it into his mouth.

 _“Oh man, this is the real deal,”_ he hears Jaehwan mutter under his breath that he almost didn't catch it properly. Even if he didn't, it's not like he's missing out on something he'd fully understand.

 _“Good… Morning,”_ Sanghyuk almost hesitantly says it, half unsure if that's what he's supposed to say and if he actually wants to accept his presence.

 _“Good morning! Are you the only one who's doing the work every day?_ “ Jaehwan has his arms resting on the hedge, on its metal bearing underneath, and it gives Sanghyuk a faint idea on how long he plans standing there.

 _“No,”_ as disinterested as he can muster, Sanghyuk replies shortly before turning back to the blueberries. Looks like he can't stall off for long, however, as Jaehwan just follows him down the hedge as he waters down the row.

 _“But you're in the only one I ever see!”_ Does Jaehwan ever know when to not approach people? Like when they're busy? Or incapable?

“ _Grandparents… Too old to work too hard.”_ Why did they plant so many blueberries again? The row looks like it just goes on forever.

“ _Oh,_ _I see…_ ”

Please let that be just it, please let that be just it, please let that be—

 

“ _Do you want any help?”_

 

 

 

 

 

Right. How did it get to this?

 

Jaehwan looks absolutely happy holding a damn watering can even if Sanghyuk just (vaguely) told him to water the snapdragons in this side of the farm.

 _“These are so pretty,_ ” Sanghyuk hears him coo, and he just tells him himself that it’s better help than nothing. At least he gets an excuse to hear him hum a pretty tune under his breath.

Only when he’s done watering the blueberry patches he finds Jaehwan sitting on the ground, phone in hand as he takes photos of the flowers.

 _“Grandmother’s plants,”_ he tries to (vaguely, again) catch his attention, and Jaehwan looks at him with his black hair astray from the wind.

“ _Oh, these are your grandmother’s?”_ Jaehwan almost sounds like he’s so full of wonder, marvelling at these simple flowers. _“Please tell her they’re absolutely beautiful.”_

Sanghyuk only nods before his throat dries out again as he realises— what now?

_“Is there anything else I can help you with?”_

Again? Sanghyuk doesn't know why Jaehwan is still asking for that — hasn’t he tired himself already? He almost feels bad he’s taking his time for spending his precious vacation hours in their farm.

 _“It’s okay, thank you_ ,” the words tumble out of his mouth almost naturally, shaking his head as he offers a hand to Jaehwan sitting on the ground.

The look he gets from Jaehwan, however, looks unconvinced, but he still takes his hand gladly, back on his feet and there’s a smile growing on his face that almost puts Sanghyuk’s brain under stasis.

“ _I have an idea_ ,” he begins, hand still not leaving Sanghyuk’s and the younger can only feel his hand become clammy in this skinship. Seeing that Sanghyuk has no intention of replying, Jaehwan adds in his other hand, tightening his grasp on Sanghyuk’s already weakening hold.

Frankly, Sanghyuk doesn’t know if it’s just the fault of the clouds for suddenly revealing the sun just before noon, or maybe it’s the fact that it is summer and there’s no fighting back against sweltering heat; he tries to find a reason why his heart is speeding up so fast, anyway.

_“I’ll teach you English!”_

 

Oh no… Oh no, oh no… Not that he actually fully understood what he said but… He can feel a storm already brewing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It takes more numbers from his fingers and toes to count how many times he’s stepped foot inside the Lee household, as they often invite Sanghyuk and his grandparents to have lunch or dinner whenever they offer some of the surplus of their produce; but somehow, his knees shake even more terribly as he tries to take off his shoes in the front of the house, Jaehwan muttering to him to not even bother.

He doesn’t even know why he’s here in the first place— it’s almost like his brain really melted in summer sun just like a popsicle the moment Jaehwan held his hand and invited him to… To… What did he say again?

 

“Sanghyuk?” Their attention cuts to Hongbin who’s having a glass of red juice — cranberry? — looking like he was about to just flop down the couch when they suddenly came in.

“Hi, hyung,” Sanghyuk barely smiles at him, awkwardly nodding his head at him before Jaehwan interrupts them.

“ _Sanghyuk is here to visit,”_ he tells his brother, and Sanghyuk only catches his name until Hongbin squints at Jaehwan as he sips his cranberry juice.

 _“I can see that,”_ he mumbles, still squinting, _“why?”_

 _“Oh, you know,”_ Jaehwan dismisses him half-heartedly with his hand, before grabbing Sanghyuk’s wrist to drag him upstairs.

“Don’t let him drag you around!” Hongbin calls out to Sanghyuk anyway, hoping at least that his friend isn’t just being forced to this ordeal. Deeply sighing, he drinks more of his cranberry juice, face scrunching and he squints once again at its sourness.

 

Upstairs, Sanghyuk hasn’t been there much, actually. Probably only a few times and it’s only because Hongbin invites him over sometimes to play video games; but that was before they moved his gaming systems to their living room so he never had the need to climb the stairs much after that.

“ _Have you been here before?”_ Jaehwan asks him still, and Sanghyuk distractedly finds him really pretty under the direct sunlight that’s streaming through the clear glass windows the Lees had installed in their second floor.

“ _Yes.”_

_“But my room?”_

Jaehwan’s room, if he recalls correctly, used to be a storage room. He remembers quite some time last year, when Hongbin wasn’t present as he was doing his third semester in Seoul, and then Mr. Lee asked him for help moving boxes and he remembers it was the room adjacent to Hongbin’s.

 _“Maybe_.” It wasn’t a complete lie.

This time, when Jaehwan swings the door to his room open, it wasn’t the same dusty and messy storage room Sanghyuk remembers and is replaced to a more modern and pristine bedroom.

Quite an evolution from its previous stage — then again, a feat considering that Jaehwan’s most likely only staying here for a month or few. Does he plan to come back again next year?

 _“Pretty view, right?”_ Jaehwan’s gesturing to his own wide window, and through it, Sanghyuk does see the tree he and Hongbin was at yesterday before Jaehwan interrupted them, and then a good part of their farm, too, including the orchard.

He’s still busy admiring its view when he hears Jaehwan tapping something wooden, and it works as probably intended for it easily catches Sanghyuk’s attention.

_“Let’s start?”_

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be fair, he didn't really know what he expected.

Something in between Jaehwan getting bored of him and finding him extremely unentertaining and eventually leaving him to his own devices again. But then the hours became longer, and days started to feel like he’s actually existing — all in the presence of Lee Jaehwan.

He expected too much.

Really, he expected too much of Jaehwan to just leave him alone once he realises that Sanghyuk isn’t really the most fun person to be with on this planet, even more with a language barrier between them — not- not whatever _this_ is.

Or to put it more vividly, what Sanghyuk thought will happen turned a complete 180° on him and took him up the arse when he wasn't paying attention.

 

Like now.

 

His attention is slowly… Slowly dripping away as his eyelids start to grow heavier and heavier.

The soft sheets beneath his body are somehow getting… Even more softer the longer he sits on it and the next thing he knows, Sanghyuk has the book thrown beside and he's fully lying down chest down.

“God, I could stay in here forever,” he mumbles to himself, eyes finally closing down and relaxing for a period of time.

“ _Did you say something?”_

It was a short period of time.

And he remembers how that he actually, in fact, can't fall asleep in this place. Specifically, Jaehwan's bed.

Sanghyuk peeks an eye open, and he catches sight of Jaehwan blinking owlishly at him with his specs on.

“ _Nothing_ ,” he quietly replies, anyway, not really into the idea of ignoring Jaehwan no matter how hard he tries.

“ _Are you gonna fall asleep on me? Hey!”_ Jaehwan almost sounds scandalised — but it's his fault for suggesting to stay on his bed and for allowing Sanghyuk to get this comfortable.

“ _Noisy...”_ Just because he's sleepy doesn't mean he’s given Jaehwan permission to be extra loud.

_“You can't fall asleep!”_

_“Just a little bit…”_

He hears Jaehwan sigh, before he mumbles, _“I'm gonna be so bored,”_ and that almost breaks Sanghyuk’s exterior if only he wasn't really just so sleepy.

“ _Go nap too,”_ Sanghyuk really means that.

_“But I'm not sleepy!”_

_“I am. Goodnight.”_

 

Whatever this is, well— truthfully, it’s the last thing he expected to barge into what he thought will be just another sweltering summer.

 

Maybe he kinda likes it. He really likes it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, it’s harvest time for melons and Jaehwan is just as eager to help when Sanghyuk mentioned it yesterday.

 _“Melons? Which type?”_ Just the way he sounded made him similar to a kid about to embark on a field trip with his classmates. _“Can I help? I’ll be super good!”_

Not that Sanghyuk had gained the ability to say no to him so far.

 

So it’s him, Jaehwan, and his grandparents standing by their door looking already bewildered at such an early hour in the morning.

“ _Good morning! I’m Jaehwan Lee, Hyukkie’s friend,”_ Jaehwan somehow has this charm to him that always resurfaces whenever he introduces himself to someone. It’s not like the usual loudness Sanghyuk is starting to get used to, but a more relaxed and calm presence instead — he actually doesn’t know which he likes more.

And- The sudden change in his demeanor almost made Sanghyuk miss what he called him just now.  Yeah. That’s a thing now, too, apparently. Hyukkie. (He’ll just stay mute.)

“Hyuk-ah,” his grandmother calls once she reaches them, in the middle of the melon patches, “is this really… Hongbinnie’s brother?” She inspects Jaehwan closer, looking at him incredulously.

“I know, I couldn’t believe it either,” Sanghyuk shakes his head, for once relating to his grandmother. Love her, but they really just differ opinions over a few things. Jaehwan’s not one of them.

“ _Hello… Mrs. Han?”_ Jaehwan is a little stiff under his grandmother’s scrutiny and Sanghyuk almost feels bad if he didn’t find it so amusing that he can also be just as awkward as him.

“Sanghyuk, I don’t know English,” she mutters steely, but she finally backs off and looks behind to her husband, who already started working. “Well, if he’s willing to help then that’s good. Make sure he doesn’t bruise any of the harvest.”

Jaehwan has an unreadable expression on him, perhaps daunted?

 _“Scary?”_ Sanghyuk prompts after she’s fairly a distance away, although he’s half-heartedly fighting back laughing at Jaehwan’s first impression with his grandmother.

 _“She’s_ terrifying _! I can’t believe you’re related,”_ Jaehwan has his hands on his hips, but even then he looks absolutely affected.

 _“Grandmother is nice,_ ” as much as he hates to admit, _“and, uh, this is grandmother’s farm.”_

_“She’s the one who’s in charge? Wow… She must be loaded then…”_

There’s a slang in there that Sanghyuk hardly catches; he gets the gist of it, however, since he thought about it before as well. Until, well, he brought it up to his grandparents and what was curiosity ended up as a lengthy lecture about the importance of going to college.

“Come on,” the Korean slips, but thankfully Jaehwan somehow gets that he’s beckoning him to begin picking up the melons. It’s always better to harvest as early as possible, after all.

It took them until midday to finish harvesting, and Jaehwan keeps complaining about his spine almost on the verge of snapping. He forgets half of it though, when Sanghyuk’s grandmother offers to have lunch.

Even though he looks at Sanghyuk first, half-pleadingly and half-excitedly; he really should know by now that Sanghyuk is completely powerless against his will.

That’s the thing, Sanghyuk realises as they sit at the dining table for lunch — Jaehwan distracting his grandfather who shares the same wavelength running through Jaehwan’s brain — that he never really forced him to do something.

Sure, he kinda coined Sanghyuk to spending time with him just to read and pronounce English words but even then, he gave Sanghyuk the chance and option to back off. Even when helping, he never really says he’ll butt in to do it, and rather asks Sanghyuk first for permission if he can lend a hand.

A week easily flew by even when he thought it’ll mostly be awkward stutters between him and Jaehwan, and frankly, he enjoyed the week pretty well.

 _‘Oh no…’_ He pales as his grandmother places a pot of steaming samgyetang in front of him, ‘ _I think I’m starting to adore him…’_

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After his (not so shocking) revelation to himself a few days ago, Sanghyuk finally decides to conjugate a question as he spends another afternoon lying on his back in Jaehwan’s bed.

Jaehwan is sitting in front of him, completely distracted by a game on his phone.

“Hyung,” actually, he hasn’t finished formulating what he’s gonna ask him yet, so there goes all of his plans of practising what he’s going to say under his breath. Damn Jaehwan for being so offensively distracting even when he’s just sitting down.

Jaehwan tears his attention to him quickly though, swiftly pausing whatever puzzle game he got addicted to this week and give Sanghyuk all his attention that easily.

“ _Do you…_ How do you say this in English— _Why is_ hyung _teaching me English but also help on the farm?”_ He’s not sure if he worded those sentences correctly, but he couldn’t be bothered to be embarrassed about that when there’s a high rise of redness on his cheeks instead.

“ _Why do I still teach you English even though I offer to help you in the farm?”_ Jaehwan looks at him as if he’s bemused. Sanghyuk nods anyway, just wanting to satiate his curiosity. He probably shouldn’t be so confident when he’s completely lying down on the other’s bed.

“ _Well… Do I really need a reason?”_ Jaehwan appears to be literally trying to think of one, with his eyes shut and lips jutted out slightly that distracts even more. “ _Can’t I just say it’s an excuse to spend time with you?”_

The thing is, Sanghyuk only got half of what he said, the rest jumbled too fast before it reached his brain—

“ _What I’m saying is,”_ Jaehwan continues, unbothered, his hand already unlocking his phone again, _“I like you, Sanghyuk, I like spending time with you,”_

That doesn’t sound too bad…

 _“Oh!”_ Sanghyuk smiles now that he realises Jaehwan’s intentions, _“I like you too,_ hyung.”

What he doesn’t understand — why is Jaehwan the one blushing now?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He should’ve known it was an unfair fight since the beginning.

Everything he worked hard for, built up with his bare hands — all gone.

There’s only so little time left in his hands and even then, Jaehwan doesn’t heed to his feelings and takes his everything.

 

 _“I beat you!”_ Sanghyuk hears Jaehwan exclaim, but he’s too busy trying to somehow drown himself in a plush carpet. He hears the TV blaring the trumpets and Jaehwan’s obnoxiously named Mii displays first in the rankings.

“Wo _oow_ ,” Hongbin exhales from the couch, surprised from the sudden turn of events, “he actually blue-shelled you last minute…”

The carpet can really swallow him whole.

“ _Hyukkie, Hyukkie I beat you!”_ Jaehwan looks too happy for someone who only won at Mario Kart, and Sanghyuk looks over the fur of the carpet and he gets annoyed at himself for not wanting to wipe off Jaehwan’s wide smile on his face,

 _“And here I thought Sanghyuk was a god at Mario Kart_ ,” Hongbin unhelpfully adds, and  _now_ Sanghyuk wants to pinch Hongbin’s cheeks off till his shit-eating grin disappears.

“ _I hate you two.”_ Sanghyuk doesn’t mean it. He sits up again, and pats the spot next to where he’s sitting. “Hyung, _again_.”

 

The day  _won’t_ end until he beats Jaehwan at Mario Kart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turns out, Jaehwan really just got lucky in that round because he was completely out of control. He didn’t prove to be much of a worse opponent than his brother, or at least not in the context of difficulty — he’s really bad at the game.

“ _Now I’m the one who’s gonna be pouting,”_ Jaehwan grumbles, and true to his word, matched with a pout, before storming off to the kitchen.

“I really can’t tell you two are brothers,” Sanghyuk tells Hongbin as he sits on the couch beside Hongbin, legs flat underneath him as Hongbin takes the controller to play by himself.

“Trust me, I wouldn’t have too if I didn’t know him at first like you.”

“Honestly. I’m surprised you two aren’t awkward even though weren’t you like… Separated growing up?”

Hongbin side-eyes him, and Sanghyuk almost thought he asked something not to be touched about but Hongbin breaks into a laughing fit and ends up almost crashing into an opponent.

“Our parents and grandparents love to video call a lot, so I got to see him a lot too during video calls,” he answers, seething when he almost got by a shell, “eventually, we ended up having our own video calls, and in time we just became closer — it’s like an internet friend, you know? But this time it’s your brother.”

Sanghyuk really can’t say he understands or relates as he only has one older sister and God knows where she is right now; but he supposes it does make sense, since Hongbin is just as awkward as he is and that’s why they make a great match.

 

Eventually, Jaehwan returns bearing a bag of chips that Hongbin tried to sneakily grab but Jaehwan bares his teeth (it wasn’t scary).

“ _No! This bag of chips is for losers like_ me _only.”_

Looks like they’re going to dealing with that for the rest of the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was when Sanghyuk had left Hongbin and Jaehwan had a round of playing Smash when Hongbin decides to poke at his brother.

“What are you exactly planning?”

Jaehwan glances at him from the corner of his eye, but he’s not distracted.

 _“Are you trying to distract me?”_ He laughs out as he hits more of Hongbin’s character on the screen _. “I’ll tell you exactly my plan. I’m gonna have Yoshi smash you so bad.”_

“No, not that,” Hongbin is completely unconvinced. “I’m asking why you kept hanging around Sanghyuk like some stickybug.”

His brother just laughs even more, and to be honest, Hongbin is getting tired of it and for that, he sneaks up an attack on Jaehwan’s character that finally ended the match.

“ _You know I don’t understand a lick of Korean, brother dear,”_ Jaehwan says, haphazardly throwing the controller into the side as he lies comfortably on the couch. He has an incredibly annoying smile and it makes Hongbin just want to defeat him in another match

“I’m just saying it’s getting troublesome speaking English every time,” Hongbin tells him, but he just quits to the menu to play a different match with someone else. “Besides, aren’t you having too much fun? You only have a month left.”

 _“Korean summers are so much shorter compared to the US,_ ” the elder seconds, boredly watching a fight between Snake and Kirby go off in the screen. _“I expected to sit through an incredibly dull summer, but Sanghyuk’s quite an interesting company and four weeks felt like four days.”_

 _“You’re just stressing him out,”_ Hongbin finally speaks in English once again, to Jaehwan’s unspoken delight, _“he took a break from college two years ago and you’re the last thing he needs.”_ It probably sounds cruel, but he should know better than anyone how resilient his brother is.

 _“I think he enjoys my presence though,”_ Jaehwan’s face is decorated once again with those silly smiles of his that has Hongbin thinking something beyond his imagination.

“Hyung… You’re not gonna lead him on, are you?”

“What? No!"His brother looks absolutely appalled, but he doesn’t miss the colour of red on his ears. “He’s just cute. Super cute.”

“Oh yeah?” Still unconvinced. “And you sound like a five year old.”

“ _You know I don’t know Korean!_ ” Jaehwan singsongs to him, but he doesn’t budge so Jaehwan starts nudging him with his foot. _“Hey, hey_ —”

“—And I don’t know how to eat using chopsticks!” Finally giving up, Hongbin throws his own controller to side as well and stands up from the couch. “Do you know what time mum and dad are coming back?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sanghyuk is too busy trying to distract himself from practicing his English by looking through his window that he somehow remembers his exchange with Jaehwan the other day.

 

_“Well… Do I really need a reason?” Jaehwan appears to be literally trying to think of one, with his eyes shut and lips jutted out slightly that distracts even more. “Can’t I just say it’s an excuse to spend time with you?”_

_The thing is, Sanghyuk only got half of what he said, the rest jumbled too fast before it reached his brain—_

_“What I’m saying is,” Jaehwan continues, unbothered, his hand already unlocking his phone again, “I like you, Sanghyuk, I like spending time with you,”_

 

There’s something in there that he’s missing out on, and he tries to break down every word Jaehwan said right that moment.

 

“ _I like you, I like you,_ ” he keeps repeating to himself, tapping his pen on the table every time he punctuates the phrase.

The word like is defined as something that is meant for describing things you fancy — like cheesecakes, tea, ducks — so it’s just natural for Jaehwan to like him right? Of course.

_“Oh!” Sanghyuk smiles now that he realises Jaehwan’s intentions, “I like you too, hyung.”_

_What he doesn’t understand — why is Jaehwan the one blushing now?_

 

Now the thing that doesn’t make sense is the fact that Jaehwan immediately flushed when he said it back. Is it embarrassing to say? Or did he say it wrong?

God- This is just messing with his brain.

Of course, he probably said it wrongly and embarrassed himself (not that there’s anything new in that area). If only he was a little bit more versed in English he may have comprehended everything Jaehwan said that afternoon.

 

Unfortunately, he isn’t.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For some reason, Sanghyuk thought the idea of his grandmother teaching Jaehwan how to care of garden flowers was a great idea.

He’s sitting on the ground, tending to a different patch of plants with his grandfather busy beside him, and they’re all over to the other side where his grandmother keeps her flowers and they’re busy whispering and huddled together.

She doesn’t seem to be having trouble however, and even smiles at whatever stupid joke Jaehwan probably told her.

He allows himself to watch them longer, and Sanghyuk relishes in the rare occurrence of his grandmother enjoying to talk with someone again. Not that he and his grandfather just annoy her on a daily basis, it’s that she’s probably glad there’s someone she can gush about on how to take care of her delicate flowers.

The patch they’re leaning toward to is a bunch of phlox, and he’s actually curious to what could his grandmother tell Jaehwan about them as he remembers her telling him that they’re quite an easy bunch to take care of.

Well— it looks he’s really got nothing to worry for when Jaehwan just charms her so easily with his (very pretty) smile and kneels on one leg to look at her flowers closely.

 

“Sanghyuk, these red cabbages aren’t going to pick themselves.”

Oh right.

 

When they’re finished, he pulls Jaehwan to the side as his grandmother goes to cook up lunch for them and his grandfather to start sorting out the produce.

“ _Sanghyuk! Your grandma is completely not who I first thought she would be!”_ He immediately starts even before Sanghyuk gets to say anything (and he’s even surprised he managed to catch all he said), _“she was so kind to introduce me to her flowers— and she even told me to properly care for each and every one!”_

_“Grandmother wasn’t… Scary?”_

_“Absolutely not! You weren’t lying when you told me she was nice,_ ” Jaehwan doesn’t look like he’s lying either, and he seems like he did enjoy himself, totally different to how he reacted when he first met her five weeks ago

Somewhere, however, there’s a part in Sanghyuk that’s restless and unconvinced. He fully knows that his grandmother doesn’t more than five English words — eight on a good day — and he knows Jaehwan can’t speak any Korean either to save his life.

 

… How did they communicate?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like always, he’s having another one of those nights where he’s sitting on his desk trying to distract himself by the window again. This time he isn’t trying to study English, though, he already spent a noisy afternoon having Jaehwan drill him saying an annoyingly hard tongue twister.

 

No, tonight he’s trying to think of anything else besides what he’s planning to do in the future.

It’s almost been a good three years now since he stopped attending college, and frankly, he doesn’t know whether he wants to go back. There’s still the gnawing wish inside him to become a musician, but then comes with it too was the anxiety and pressure he experienced and to be honest, Sanghyuk isn’t so into that.

Who said music college should be a need anyway? Can’t he just start shitting out songs without being forced to sit in a room full of people he can barely tolerate? Music theory? All he wants to is to make songs he thinks will sound good for him and— Do other people really matter when it’s his ears he’s making music for?

This isn’t good — he needs to stare out the window more.

There’s a flicker in the dark; his window has a good view of his grandmother’s garden and next to it are trees untouched and guarded by his grandparents, so he can see clearly without light pollution the small, flashing dots of light fluttering in the dark.

 

_Fireflies!_

 

Summer’s really in its prime then, now that the fireflies have gone out of hiding. Maybe he can…

Actually, before he can finish plotting out the consequences, his fingers already betrayed him and he shot Jaehwan a text.

They don’t text much besides whenever Jaehwan’s asking him to come out of his house or whatever, and Sanghyuk especially never usually texts him first since he doesn’t really know how to initiate a conversation, even more, an English exchange, so it doesn’t surprise him when Jaehwan immediately replies.

 

 **You**  
          Hyung  
           _10:39 pm_

 **Jaehwannie-hyung**  
          hi  
_10:39 pm_

 

How does one invite their friend to watch the fireflies in a very specific location without making it sound like he’s about to kidnap him and all while in a foreign language?

 

 **You**  
          Fireflies have appeared. Does  
          hyung want to watch with me?  
           _10:41 pm_

 **Jaehwannie-hyung**  
          fireflies? sure! :0 right now?  
           _10:41 pm_

 **You**  
          Tomorrow okay? Too late.  
           _10:42 pm_

 **Jaehwannie-hyung**  
          hehe okay :-)  night night  
          hyukkie! <3  
           _10:42 pm_

 **You**  
          Good Night.  
           _10:42 pm_

 

He considered adding a heart in it too just like Jaehwan did but he was already too flustered from rereading each text message carefully if he said anything that was incorrect — would it be too late to send one?

It’s not like it means anything anyway, right? It’s just his hyung being cute (as always) so…

 

 **You**  
          <3  
           _10:44 pm_

 

Oh, but there really is no use debating with himself. His fingers are traitorous enough.

 

 

 

 

 

“Hongbin. Hongbin. Binnie. _Hongbin_.”

“Hyung, I literally just passed out—”

“He sent me a heart back.”

“So…? Do I really have to be woken up just for this…”

“He sent me a heart back!”

“Does Sanghyuk even know you’re flirting? He probably thought you’re just being cute and so he— Ow!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“ _Where are we going?”_

Sanghyuk doesn’t answer him, though, and he just pulls Jaehwan’s wrist closer.

They weren’t able to really see each other that much today, since Sanghyuk had to help in replanting some crops, and after that, he had to help his grandmother with moving furniture in their living room since she had the sudden urge to renovate.

“ _Hyukkie?”_ Jaehwan still tries, and Sanghyuk almost bites just by how much he adores the lilt in Jaehwan’s voice every time he says his nickname.

“ _Quiet,”_ he says instead, and it works, for now.

Their footsteps gradually get quieter as they walk through grassier path, and even here Sanghyuk can already see in the distance that what they’re coming for is going to be absolutely worth it.

“ _You’re not gonna kidnap me though, are you?”_ The elder jokes after a while, but he ends up scrambling to grip Sanghyuk’s wrist with his free hand as a strange noise came out of nowhere. _“Okay, I love you and all but do you really have to kidnap me? I mean like we already spend so much time everyday will anything change if you_ —”

“Hyung! _We’re here_.”

Jaehwan comes out of hiding behind Sanghyuk’s back, immediately marvelling at the sight before them.

 

In front of them lies a rather large pond, brimming in life with fireflies. It almost looks heavenly as the water reflects the lights the little bugs make, and maybe they really found magic in this place.

“ _Pretty?”_ Sanghyuk hopes he does find it pretty, since he used to come here on some summer nights and give himself a peace of mind whenever he needed it.

 _“Pretty_ — _Sanghyuk this is gorgeous!”_ Jaehwan exclaims as he walks a little closer, maybe a bit tentative as he doesn’t want to disturb the fireflies. _“I couldn’t believe I get to see something like this at all.”_

It almost sounds like he’s exaggerating but — Sanghyuk brought him in a small forest clearing, far away from light pollution, and it’s illuminated by nothing but fireflies.

“ _I’m so in love,_ ” he hears Jaehwan softly say, sighing as he sits down to look closer at the glimmering pond. The gesture makes Sanghyuk follow and sit down as well, their hands ending up locked together and he didn’t even realise it. Not that nobody between them mentioned it. _“It’s magic.”_

 _You’re magic_ , he catches himself thinking but he bites his tongue before he shakes off any future embarrassment.

“ _I go here sometimes during summer,”_ Sanghyuk tells him instead, _“the fireflies have only come out a few days ago so I only brought hyung now.”_

_“... So it’s your special place?”_

_“Special place…”_ He’s actually not sure if he can call it that, but then he’s never brought anyone here, not even Hongbin. “ _Maybe… The farm is quiet, but this place is, uh, I guess different.”_

He feels Jaehwan shift on his feet, but he just scoots closer to Sanghyuk (or as much movement he can while sitting down). “ _Different?”_

Why is he asking so many questions tonight?

“ _I guess it’s because… It reminds me of the city?”_ He hears Jaehwan make a confused noise, so he continues quickly, _“the fireflies look like city lights. Pretty. Like I’m in the city but not really.”_

The other doesn’t react as instantly as he did earlier, and it almost worried Sanghyuk that he said something weird or wrong again but he sees Jaehwan looking at him, his other hand’s palm on his cheek.

_“What?”_

_“Nothing!”_ And he tears his gaze away from Sanghyuk, back to staring at the fireflies glimmering around them and the pond again. Maybe it’s better not to admit to himself that the way Jaehwan looked at him warmed him so much even under this chilly night breeze.

His eyes train on the calmly glowing pond instead, yet it somehow lands on Jaehwan’s reflection in it, and their hands between them.

 

Jaehwan was right. This really is magic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“ _Do you miss it?”_

They stop in their walking, hands still joined and Sanghyuk gapes at him dumbly. They’re just a few metres away from their respective homes.

“ _Do you miss the city?”_

 _“The city?_ ” Where did that come from? “ _Sure. I get a little homesick sometimes.”_

 _“That’s it then!”_ Jaehwan says it a little too loudly, and he’s afraid it might’ve disturbed whatever’s nearby that’s resting. “ _Let’s go to Seoul!”_

“What are you— Ah, no wait— _To Seoul?”_ Sanghyuk repeats it, as if he just couldn’t fathom what the elder just suggested.

“ _Seoul! Let’s take Hongbin’s car and have fun!”_ He supplies rather too animatedly once again, taking both of Sanghyuk’s hands in his. “ _You know, just_ — _forgiving ourselves to forget all our burdens for a day, making memories_ — _oh, let’s go to an amusement park!”_

 _“That sounds really fun,_ hyung,” it does, honestly, and Sanghyuk is already starting to get excited just by how Jaehwan’s hyping him up and all but, _“why though?”_

 _“Why not? You said you miss the city and we have the means to travel,”_ Jaehwan tells him as if it’s a matter of fact, ” _and I’m sure Binnie won’t mind us taking his car out for a day, so if you’re worried about that_ —”

 _“No, no_ — Hyung, listen — _I’m just… Do we really need to? I mean… We’re already having fun just by being in here so…”_

Jaehwan huffs, pouting at him, and it’s so, so unfortunate that they’re in a place where Sanghyuk can clearly see his face illuminated with moonlight and make his heartbeat speed up a little even more faster.

“ _If you really need a reason then…”_ his grip on Sanghyuk’s hands tighten, leaning closer, and Sanghyuk almost thought he’s going to kiss him when he stops short to place his mouth near Sanghyuk’s ear. “ _I’m leaving soon.”_

It doesn’t settle in at first, that Sanghyuk blinks once, twice for a moment, before Jaehwan goes on, “ _I didn’t want to leave in an unhappy note so… I wanted to do something really fun with you for at least a whole day.”_

 

Ah… Ah— There was one thing he forgot.

The fact that Jaehwan’s just here on a vacation.

 

 _“When?”_ His voice comes out faintly, and he feels the corners of his eyes beginning to sting.

 _“Next week? Like if we maybe go to Seoul the day after tomorrow, then I think it’s the day after that or_ —”

“And you’re only telling me this now?” Sanghyuk’s brain has jumbled from the sudden overwhelming emotions, he couldn’t formulate to even say his words in English and he tries to look up from the ground, just to meet Jaehwan’s eyes yet even his gaze is obstructed with tears.

“Hyukkie—”

“You expect me to be okay with you telling me late? Like I wouldn’t get upset and just forget about you? Carry on with my fucking life?” The words are pouring out, and Sanghyuk can’t shut his lips to help himself. “Am I— Am I just a distraction to you? Something you just used to waste time, something emotionless and wouldn’t feel _anything_ if you left?”

“Sanghyuk!” Jaehwan’s voice tears through his stream of sentences, and in the dark of night Sanghyuk wishes he didn’t look at him like that.

“Hyung—” But it’s already been cut off; Sanghyuk couldn’t find the words in him anymore and he tries to find the answer in Jaehwan’s eyes instead; it pierces through him, frantically searching him and trying to blink away the hurt in his eyes as Sanghyuk just loses his everything.

He really wishes he didn’t look at him like that. It almost made it feel like he really considered how Sanghyuk felt.

“ _Let’s go back_ ,” Sanghyuk his hands away from Jaehwan’s grasp instead, walking in larger steps to leave him behind. The tears come back right after Jaehwan’s completely gone from his line of sight, and he ends up walking almost blindly in the dark with tears stinging his eyes.

 

Why does summer have to go by so fast— Why does summer have to  _end?_

It’s- It’s not even the damn season’s fault — why does Jaehwan have to come back here? Couldn’t he have just spent his summer in the states, somewhere where Sanghyuk will never know he exists, somewhere where their paths would never have crossed? Fucking selfish bastard.

Little gasps escape from him as he finally gets inside their house, holding back from sobbing out loud, and carefully, he walks up the stairs and to his room. He flips the switch on his lamp on, and right there he collapses on his seat and lets out a choked sob.

No matter how hard he tries to get mad at Jaehwan, his heart ends up just crumbling itself further, hurting himself and aching for something he wishes that’s all too late and impossible.

The rest of the night blurs out, and he couldn’t quite remember how long he sat there crying but he does remember, vividly, that the tears that ran down his cheeks soundlessly fell to his desk almost looked like little fireworks of water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loud morning.

Sanghyuk rolls over in his bed, trying to shut his grandmother’s voice yelling at his grandfather so early in the morning.

It doesn’t work, and it’s already woken him up to the point he can’t fall asleep again.

 

Grumbling, he begrudgingly slides out of his bed, half-heartedly making his bed before going downstairs in hopes of a peaceful breakfast.

Well, it can be as peaceful as it gets as he walks down the stairs his grandparents stop whatever they’re arguing about and his grandmother just snides on his grandfather as quiet as she can.

They’re seated together at the dining table, his grandmother busy with some papers that look like budget-related while his grandfather is taking his morning coffee.

“Good morning,” Sanghyuk says anyway, grimly taking out his carton of milk from the fridge and drinking it directly without bothering to pour it in a glass. He sighs once he’s done gulping down his drink, and he looks at his grandmother, who’s just equally staring back at him. “What?”

“Nothing, Jungsoo-yah and I were just talking about… You.”

He squints at her but, he doesn’t even bother thinking about it and just promptly returns the milk inside the fridge. “Is there anything you need help with today?”

“No, why?”

“I have,” Sanghyuk pauses, actually unsure himself what he has in mind, “something to do.”

“Something to do…” His grandfather’s voice tunes out towards the end of his words, and then he snorts, “you spend so much time with Jaehwan already, you two might as well get attached by the hip!”

Annoying how he immediately assumes it’s related to Jaehwan.

“Is that really a bad thing though?” He hears his grandmother retort, but Sanghyuk’s trying to distract himself by rummaging the fridge for whatever he can snack on. “His English has improved so much, I’d confuse him for a foreigner now!”

Annoying how they like how Jaehwan.

Sanghyuk doesn’t bother saying anything else, only grunting as he takes a half-eaten candy bar.

“Hey— Hyuk-ah!”

Annoying how it’s just morning but Jaehwan’s already invaded his thoughts.

 

Now, that something to do…

His fat English book splats on his desk once again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 **Jaehwannie-hyung**  
          hi hyukkie! miss you hehe :-)  
          make sure to sleep early  
          tonight! we’re leaving at  
          10 tomorrow >:0  
           _9:21 pm_

 **Jaehwannie-hyung**  
          see you tomorrow <3  
           _9:22 pm_

 

He reads the texts, again and again, eyes scanning each and every word, trying to uncover some sort of hidden message he’s convinced Jaehwan has hidden.

It’s useless — he can’t find anything and he just sighs against his pillow, exhausted from his activities and he’s just riling himself up over the most useless thing.

 _There’s the heart again_ , he notes, but he’s still sure that’s just baseless flirting and nothing to even bother looking at.

At first, he considers not replying, wanting to stay (or at least look like it) mad at Jaehwan, but his fingers have gone and done it even before he could bite his hands off.

 

 **You**  
          See you.  
           _9:26 pm_

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“You need to remember that she’s _not_ allowed to be under the sun longer than ten hours, and that—”

“ _God, I get it, I get it,_ you don’t need to tell me that about thirty-one times in the span of ten of hours. _”_

Hongbin has his hand on his hip, and he’s looking at his brother judgingly, who’s already in the driver’s seat and is just (excitedly) waiting for Sanghyuk. “I know, hyung. I’m just— _I’m reminding you, brother dear.”_

Oh, how they hate calling each other that.

“Well if you trusted hyungie a little bit more—”

“Oh, Sanghyuk— Sanghyuk!” Jaehwan cowers slightly, both at the sudden shift in volume of Hongbin’s voice and the fact that he’s going to be facing Sanghyuk again.

“Did you tell him yet?” Hongbin leans down, but his eyes stay on Sanghyuk, who’s still at a distance away.

“I did.”

He stays silent, holding his tongue for a moment. He doesn’t know what happened between his brother and Sanghyuk, but if Jaehwan’s this desperate (and excited) to go to Seoul then…

“Don’t hurt him,” he tells him instead, before finally stepping back as Sanghyuk finally arrives at the scene. He looks absolutely not prepared for this trip.

Jaehwan’s resilient, nonetheless.

“Hyukkie! _I missed you_ ,” Hongbin hears him begin, and well— that’s all he needs to hear.

 

Whatever happens to the rest of the day, he really just hopes his car will be okay (and that his brother and Sanghyuk are fine, but that’s just an afterthought.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“ _Do you… Do you even know how to go to Seoul?_ ”

Sanghyuk meets Jaehwan’s eyes in the rear view mirror, and he sees his eyes shiny as always. “ _Absolutely not!_ ”

Just that alone makes Sanghyuk melt in the passenger seat. “ _But don’t worry, it’s just one road with very handy street signs and we’ve got a GPS too so, the chances of us getting lost is_ very _low.”_

_“Do I need to start praying? Which god do I talk to first?”_

_“Jesus?”_ Jaehwan suggests just for the humour of it, but he takes Sanghyuk’s hand and squeezes it briefly. “ _It’s gonna be fine, Hyukkie.”_

Completely pretending that he didn’t wish for Jaehwan’s hand to stay longer, he just sighs and leans to look out the window, watching as the scenery of the countryside begin to roll away.

“As long as I’m with you…” He mumbles, already distracted to see how Jaehwan looks at him right at that moment.

 

Technically, the car ride was silent; technically because they didn’t really talk much, and it was mostly Jaehwan singing along softly to whatever song is playing on the radio. Eventually, Sanghyuk ended up falling asleep, lulled to sleep with Jaehwan's voice and he wakes up with Jaehwan’s hand in his again.

The view outside is — well, when people describe home, it’s usually with nice things like safety and warmth yet — he’s met with a congested traffic and sky-towering buildings and he’s never felt so much at home until now.

 

“ _You fell asleep,”_ Jaehwan notes, but his gaze doesn’t leave the road, and neither does his hand with Sanghyuk’s.

 _“I can tell,”_ Sanghyuk grumbles back, and he yawns, “ _how long have we been stuck in traffic?”_

_“Not that long, It’s just a stoplight, I think. Go get some more sleep; I’ll wake you up when we get there.”_

 

That doesn’t sound too bad. He can definitely fall asleep just by how comforting Jaehwan’s hand feels against his own.

 

 

 

 

 

It's already mid-afternoon when they reached their destination, with Jaehwan gently nudging Sanghyuk awake with his free hand. Somehow, in Sanghyuk's sleep, he ended up clutching Jaehwan’s hand tighter like a baby.

“Are we here?” Sanghyuk lowly mumbles, eyes heavily laden with sleep and he tries to blink the sleepiness away.

“ _Yeah,”_ Jaehwan softly replies, and gently eases his hand out of Sanghyuk's hold. “ _It's already three in the afternoon, at this rate we're gonna need to rent a hotel room as I hate driving in the dark.”_

 

Sanghyuk shifts on his seat and only then does it finally registers in him that he'd been holding Jaehwan's hand this whole time. Oh shit.

He got extremely sidetracked by the idea of sleeping, he completely forgot that he shouldn't be getting even more attached to Jaehwan like this.

The car door opens beside him, surprising him tastefully as he wallows in embarrassment. Jaehwan's looking at him brightly, anyway, holding his hand out again that tempts Sanghyuk once again. But more than anything — those ridiculous blue-pink gradient sunglasses are back and perched on top of his head.

Shaking his head, he decides against mentioning it, and very adamantly does he avoid Jaehwan's hand, yet it finds his own hand instead, and well… Maybe it is a little okay.

It seems that Jaehwan brought him to Lotte World; he actually visited it once before, and that was when he was still pretty young.

“ _Come on,”_ Jaehwan nudges him again, wriggling their joint hands, “ _let’s have a good date.”_

“ _Date?”_ Sanghyuk breathes out, eyes slightly flashing as his cheeks begin to heat up. Oh, this isn’t good at all…

“ _Of course it’s a date!”_

 

This is definitely not good.

 

Once they reach the entrance, Jaehwan starts insisting they should have the Daily Passport tickets, but the price of it made Sanghyuk think it could be a day or two’s worth of buffet.

“ _I’m paying for you anyway, so why are you worried?”_ The elder reasons, huffing out as they take another step forward in the line.

“ _You’re not paying for me.”_

 _“I am,”_ He gives Sanghyuk hand another squeeze, and he really needs to stop doing that because it’s almost like he’s also squeezing Sanghyuk’s heart in the process. “ _Please?”_

Sanghyuk knows the underlying meaning behind that, and it just cycles him back into a state of melancholy; it doesn’t change his mind though.

“ _My reason is_ — _it’s already late, we won’t be able to go to all the attractions today,”_ he tells Jaehwan, looking anywhere but him, “ _I think it’s just going to waste.”_

He hears Jaehwan hum, before leaning closer to his space, “ _fine then. I’ll just buy us the admission tickets and let’s go to wherever we want.”_

 _“I didn’t say you’re going to buy us_ —”

“Hi, welcome to Lotte World!” The woman in the counter cuts him off, smiling with her pearly whites and completely oblivious. “Two tickets for adults?”

Ah crap, Jaehwan doesn’t understand what’s she’s saying—

“ _Two admission-only tickets for adults, please,”_ Jaehwan breezily replies anyway, handing her the bills before Sanghyuk could pay for himself.

“ _Have a great day!_ ”

 

 

 

 

 

 

They ended up entering an attraction where they had to shoot dragons, apparently to rescue a princess, and then Jaehwan dragged him to another one where they had to ride fake horses in 3D glasses hunting for criminals (it’s much cooler than it sounds), and frankly, Sanghyuk is already starting to get exhausted.

The next thing he knows they’re already falling in line to this- What was it called- Drunken Basket?

 

“Oh God—” Sanghyuk chokes out as the ride begins spinning, and Jaehwan’s just gleefully yelling in front of him. He ends up grabbing tightly to Jaehwan’s shirt, and it’s only when the ride stops spinning he realises how close they are.

Embarrassed, Sanghyuk coughs and pulls away, but Jaehwan catches his hand in time.

“ _I’m hungry,”_ the younger tells him; they’ve been too distracted and they haven’t had lunch either.

“ _Oh, okay,”_ Jaehwan lets go of his hand, before pinching his cheek, “ _go get something to eat. I’ll just look around for any more rides we can go to!”_

 

It was actually just an excuse to cool himself off, before his face could heat up any more in front of him.

 _This isn’t really going well_ , he tells himself as he queues up for a corndog stand. If he ends up having too much fun then… He’ll just end up missing Jaehwan even more terribly and the mere thought of that is already starting to become unbearable right now.

He’ll have to tell him today. There’s no time to waste — if he recalls correctly, Jaehwan told him he’s leaving after the day tomorrow, and he’s just stalling at this point.

 _This is so unfair_ , Sanghyuk shivers to himself as he hands the person running the stand his payment, blankly muttering thanks when he hands him his corndog. The worst thing that could happen than this is him dropping his corndog, but for now…

Unfair because Jaehwan only told him so late, and even then, he looks like he’s showing no signs of being upset that he’s not gonna see Sanghyuk ever again. Maybe it’s really only Sanghyuk who’s gotten attached.

Grumbling, he bites off his snack, the sweetness of its taste a fleeting comfort to his heart that’s gotten all worked up this whole afternoon. All this hand holding, all this staring, _everything._ Lee Jaehwan is a goddamn nightmare.

 _If only there’s a better ending to this_ , the wrapper it came with barely misses the bin, _maybe I wouldn’t be just as sullen._

 

When he returns to the spot he left Jaehwan, he couldn’t find him anywhere, and his heart crumbles even further as the number of people has increased since earlier and at this rate, the chances of him finding Jaehwan in the crowd immediately dropped low.

 

_Shit._

 

Where else could that dumbass have gone? At the moment they’re at the fourth level of the amusement park and god knows where else could Jaehwan end up in.

Frantically, he retraces their steps, from the previous rides they’ve gone, before circling back to where they parted earlier. Fuck, _fuck_ — he could try dialling up Jaehwan’s phone, but he doubts he’s going to pick him up under this noise.

The crowd of people just increases as the minutes pass by and he’s really close to running to the lost children section when his eyes catches the glint of something shiny in the distance — _an obnoxiously blinding blue-pink sunglasses_ — Jaehwan!

His feet started moving even before his brain could fully function, and he almost feels like his heart really is about to burst right at this moment. He almost pushed a child down in the run, barely shouting an apology until he starts brushing past the line to reach Jaehwan.

“Hyung!” Sanghyuk gasps out, breaths slowly catching up on him as he grabs Jaehwan’s arm. Jaehwan looks at him scandalised at first, but his face eases to an easy smile when he sees it’s just Sanghyuk.

“Hyukkie! _What took you so long?_ ” It looks like he was about to tangle his fingers with Sanghyuk again but Sanghyuk beats him to it and grips on both of his arms.

“Can you  _please_ not do that to me? I thought I was going to— Ah, no-” Stupid. He was so worried and stressed he ended up rambling in Korean. “ _I meant to say, can you not do that again? I thought_ \- _I thought I lost you and_ —”

“ _I sent you a text,”_ Jaehwan tells him simply, and Sanghyuk’s eyes widen as he realises he didn’t even bother checking his phone, “ _you’re so cute, Sanghyuk. Ah look, it’s our turn.”_

From all that running, Sanghyuk didn’t bother to looking at where Jaehwan was queueing up until he pointed it out. The hot air balloon. When he came here before with his parents he begged and begged to ride it but they were all out of time and the line was too long so they never had the chance and now…

“ _Come on,”_ Jaehwan finally takes his hand again, and he chuckles as Sanghyuk’s still flushed from all that happened, then now he’s slowly taking in the fact that he’s going to be spending a few minutes up the top with him.

There can’t be any better timing than this.

Gulping, Sanghyuk looks over to Jaehwan who’s cooing at the view, pointing at the rides they rode earlier and he notices how pretty Jaehwan looks in this afternoon glow.

It really is the magic hour.

 

“Hyung…” He calls out, and Jaehwan slowly turns to him, half of his attention still on the view.

“ _What’s up?”_

And is there really any better way to say this? Sanghyuk squeezes Jaehwan’s hand in him, rubbing his knuckles with his thumb as if it’s Jaehwan’s the one who needs comforting and not him.

“ _I like you, hyung,”_ he finally said it, _“I don’t want you to leave.”_

Jaehwan is unmoving, his eyes piercing through his, carefully and patiently waiting for what else he has to say.

“ _I know it probably wasn’t your intention, but you being with you reminded me how I really should be living my life, not just cooped up in my grandparents farm and waiting for some pumpkin to start growing,”_ Sanghyuk continues, then, every word he practised yesterday almost end up tangling his tongue, but he goes on, “ _I’m still upset you told me about it so late, but at the same time I know you can’t be blamed since I’ve known from the start that you’re just_ — _It’s just temporary._

 _“It probably is my fault, now that I think about it,”_ he laughs out, but Jaehwan is still silent, “ _I probably shouldn’t have fallen_ —” Sanghyuk pauses, heating up when he realises what he almost said next. “ _I probably shouldn’t have gotten that attached,”_ he says instead. “ _Honestly, I don’t know why I wanted to tell you this. I guess it just makes me feel better, because I’d rather tell it to you than keep it in forever._

“ _Sorry, that sounded a little selfish,”_ once he’s done he hangs his head, staring at his feet because he just laid out everything from his heart and his eyes are already beginning to sting again.

“Sanghyuk,” Jaehwan finally speaks, and he hesitantly looks up to see Jaehwan smiling at him as if he’s just hung the moon, “your English had improved so much,” he tells him, his lips still curled and his other hand reaching up to cup his cheek. “Looks like I actually didn’t waste your time this summer, huh?”

“Hyung…?”

“It was just an act, Sanghyuk,” he still has his hand on his cheek, but his eyes fall to the side, “I pretended to be bad at Korean, because I thought you were so cute trying to speak in English and then— the idea of teaching you English just came up in the process but in the end — it’s all just an excuse.”

An excuse? All of it?

“Don’t look at me like that,” Jaehwan pouts, and his hand finally drops, only to pinch at the edges of Sanghyuk’s shirt, “I felt like a fool trying to look like I didn’t know my own mother tongue, but I thought it was worth it if I get to see you trying your best talking to me.”

“So all this time…” Oh god. Sanghyuk suddenly remembers what he said to him the other night, even all the other slip-ups he had before.

“I understood everything you said, every last bit of it, and I don’t blame you for being mad at me,” the elder exhales, solemnly staring at the ground, “I really was an asshole for not telling you any earlier that I’m leaving so soon, but I thought— I _assumed_ you would be fine with it because I didn’t think you’d gain feelings for me.”

“Well, I did,” Sanghyuk jokes, but there’s no humour in it. He really did.

“Hyukkie,” Jaehwan finally calls him again, in that small voice, and when he looks up, Jaehwan pulls him closer with his shirt and finally, the magic spell was done as their lips finally meet under the dimming afternoon sun.

 

“Am I more selfish now?” He hears Jaehwan mumble, his lips barely an inch away from his own, “I really wanted to do that for such a long time now.”

“No,” Sanghyuk replies, taking Jaehwan’s face in his hand and leaning down so Jaehwan wouldn’t have to tip his toe so much, “not at all. I’m more selfish than you.”

 

They kiss until the ride ends, the sun is down, and both of them soundlessly wished for that short spell of magic to never be over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Don’t miss me too much,” Jaehwan has his favourite sunglasses back on top of his head again, but after it saved his butt from losing him the other day, Sanghyuk hates it less now.

“Oh, I will definitely miss you too much,” he cheekily tells him, but it’s true. Humour may as well be his only way of coping, for now.

“Stop that! It makes me not want to leave!” Jaehwan pouts at him, and Sanghyuk takes it as a chance to kiss him.

“Oh gross!” Hongbin exclaims, shielding his eyes away from the two. “I know this is sad and all but can you _please_ remember I still exist.”

“ _Quiet, brother dear, we’re having a moment,”_ Jaehwan rolls his eyes, but Sanghyuk finds it funny and kisses him again.

“Promise me you’ll call,” Sanghyuk reminds him, and he smiles to himself as he feels Jaehwan rubbing his thumb against his own knuckles.

“Only if you get a stable internet connection!”

“Come on, hyung—”

They’ve all talked about it, and Sanghyuk mentioned that he wants to go back to Seoul and continue studying again. He didn’t tell him though, that it was mostly because he’s motivated to graduate and go to the US, just for him.

“I will call,” Jaehwan finally says, and his mouth is playfully holding up a smile, “and I will come back next year! And the year after! So don’t think you’ve seen the last of me.” He punctuates his words with a poke on Sanghyuk’s forehead, giggling at each wince Sanghyuk gives.

“You won’t meet a hot guy and be all over him?”

“Oh, let me tell you about this guy I met, his name is Wonshik and he’s so _hot_ with his tattoos and—”

“Please tell Wonshik I said hi,” Sanghyuk plainly replies, absolutely not having it.

“Boo, you’re no fun.”

Jaehwan pouts at him again, and this time Sanghyuk yells, “Hongbin-hyung look away!”

As if on cue, Hongbin immediately turns around, and Sanghyuk dives in to kiss Jaehwan, properly, trying to convey as much thought and emotions he can for the last time.

“He needs to leave soon!” Hongbin announces, still not looking back. “Can you two hurry up being homosexuals?”

“Shut up, you straight man,” Jaehwan snides back, before pulling Sanghyuk back down for one last kiss. “I love you.”

It takes Sanghyuk by surprised, and he flushes. He doesn’t know if he can say it back yet, so he just places a peck on Jaehwan’s forehead. “Me too.”

“Okay, we’re done!”

Hongbin turns around, with his hand still shielding his eyes, “no dirty tricks on me now!”

“We’re not kids, hyung,” Sanghyuk sighs, opening the car door for Jaehwan. “Are you two not gonna have a brotherly moment?”

“Oh, Binnie spent the night clinging to me and saying he’s gonna miss having a brother— _Ow, you bitch!”_

 _“_ Come on, you’re gonna miss your flight,” his brother grunts as he starts the car, already not having any of this.

“Take care,” Sanghyuk says shortly, but Jaehwan reaches for his hand again.

“I’ll see you next summer!” He calls to him loudly, as the car finally begin to leave the premises.

 

Next summer, next summer, and the next — the future’s got countless more magic for them, that’s for sure.

 

For now — maybe he should tell his grandparents about his plans.

**Author's Note:**

> where are hongbin and jaehwan's parents 
> 
> ANOTHER huge thanks for the loml [hesa](https://twitter.com/navyshiningoId) for beta'ing this and cheering on me as she knows how much trouble i went through writing this but I DID IT . thank you.
> 
> as i mentioned in my notes at the beginning, every italicised and unitalicised sentence is on purpose, so all those times jaehwan was speaking without italics, he's slipping up on his foreigner facade :) it was also difficult writing a language barrier fanfic, especially with sanghyuk as i wanted to write him terrible at english but NOT stupid enough that it makes him sound like a caveman, if that makes sense
> 
> also, the lotte world segment was only heavily based on travel blogs i read online SO it's not that accurate at all GNSKJN
> 
> the title is from [astroboy](https://youtu.be/ZvVQ1TFdOYw) by suggi! my dear friend salem recommended it (shoved the spotify link up my ear) to me and im in love with it !!!! 
> 
> okay i think that's all! thank you for reading this far, it means so much to me <3 let me know what you think !!
> 
> let's talk on twitter! @[leejaehwans](https://twitter.com/ieejaehwans)


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